Global Goals Yearbook 2018
The future of the United Nations is more uncertain than at any time before. Like his predecessors, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has promised to reform the United Nations. Drivers are two major agreements: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Accord. Both stand for a move away from statal top-down multilateralism towards new form of partnership between the public and the private sector as well as the civil society. The Global Goals Yearbook, published under the auspices of the macondo foundation, therefore covers „Partnership for the Goals“ as its 2018 main topic. Our world is truly not sustainable at this time. To make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a success story, we need an enormous increase in effort. This cannot happen without help from the private sector. But businesses need a reason to contribute as well as attractive partnerships that are based on win-win constellations. We have no alternative but to rethink the role that public–private partnerships can play in this effort. That is why United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling upon UN entities to strengthen and better align their private-sector engagement. In every change there is a new chance. The Global Goals Yearbook 2018 discusses the multiple aspects of how private sector engagement can be improved. Recommendations are, among others, to revise multilaterism, partnership models and processes and to invest more in trust, a failure culture as well as metrics and monitoring. When businesses engage in partnerships for the Goals, this is more than just signing checks. It means inserting the “do good” imperative of the SDGs into corporate culture, business cases, innovation cycles, investor relationships, and, of course, the daily management processes and (extra-)financial reporting. The Yearbook includes arguments from academic and business experts, the World Bank and the Club of Rome as well as UN entities, among them UNDP, UNSSC, UNOPS, UN JIU, and UN DESA.
The future of the United Nations is more uncertain than at any time before. Like his predecessors, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has promised to reform the United Nations. Drivers are two major agreements: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Accord. Both stand for a move away from statal top-down multilateralism towards new form of partnership between the public and the private sector as well as the civil society. The Global Goals Yearbook, published under the auspices of the macondo foundation, therefore covers „Partnership for the Goals“ as its 2018 main topic.
Our world is truly not sustainable at this time. To make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a success story, we need an enormous increase in effort. This cannot happen without help from the private sector. But businesses need a reason to contribute as well as attractive partnerships that are based on win-win constellations.
We have no alternative but to rethink the role that public–private partnerships can play in this effort. That is why United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling upon UN entities to strengthen and better align their private-sector engagement. In every change there is a new chance.
The Global Goals Yearbook 2018 discusses the multiple aspects of how private sector engagement can be improved. Recommendations are, among others, to revise multilaterism, partnership models and processes and to invest more in trust, a failure culture as well as metrics and monitoring.
When businesses engage in partnerships for the Goals, this is more than just signing checks. It means inserting the “do good” imperative of the SDGs into corporate culture, business cases, innovation cycles, investor relationships, and, of course, the daily management processes and (extra-)financial reporting.
The Yearbook includes arguments from academic and business experts, the World Bank and the Club of Rome as well as UN entities, among them UNDP, UNSSC, UNOPS, UN JIU, and UN DESA.
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RETHINKING PARTNERSHIPS<br />
Act<br />
Plan<br />
Check<br />
Do<br />
When<br />
the Stars<br />
Align<br />
with<br />
Responsibility<br />
By Simone Lee<br />
to promote a cause, they could reach far more people than by<br />
standard means. It is why ambassadors are so commonplace<br />
today – indeed, there are few fundraising or awareness-driving<br />
organizations that do not try to enlist positive role models to<br />
borrow and piggyback influence.<br />
The concept of the celebrity ambassador can be traced as far<br />
back as 1954 with American actor and comedian Danny Kaye,<br />
who was granted the title of UNICEF Ambassador at Large.<br />
The adored entertainer remained as a personal endorsee for<br />
the organization for more than 30 years – until his death in<br />
1987 – during which time he frequently traversed the globe<br />
to promote humanitarian causes and educate millions, perhaps<br />
proving that the only universal language that matters<br />
is the voice of compassion. For UNICEF, Kaye was the perfect<br />
man for the role – he was inherently driven to talk about the<br />
future of the world’s children, believing them to be our most<br />
valuable resource. Few would disagree with that – even now,<br />
half a century later.<br />
Through Kaye, the UN realized the value potential celebrities<br />
could offer, and that by harnessing their fame and influence<br />
Yet, when it comes to high-profile collaborations, the UN is<br />
known to attract the ambassadors of the very highest regard,<br />
with Audrey Hepburn, Serena Williams, and Richard Attenborough<br />
(all Goodwill Ambassadors), David Beckham (Goodwill<br />
Ambassador with a special focus on UNICEF’s Sports for<br />
Development program), and Angelina Jolie (Special Envoy of<br />
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees) all lending their time<br />
and voices to the organization at some point.<br />
As is often the case with celebrities, however, one must be prepared<br />
to have to counter considerable praise with occasional<br />
criticism. Over the years, there have been controversies when<br />
a charitable entity has turned to a high-profile name rather<br />
than perhaps an individual with expertise in the given field. A<br />
good example of this occurred in 2013, when US publication<br />
People magazine ran an article documenting a trip taken to<br />
“war-torn” Rwanda by Christina Aguilera in her role as Ambassador<br />
Against Hunger for the UN World Food Programme >><br />
<strong>Global</strong> <strong>Goals</strong> <strong>Yearbook</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
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